Out in the Community

As part of its standard to forge and maintain long-term, positive and proactive relationships with members of the local community and greater water industry and to be transparent about its operations and programs, OCWD board members and staff speak regularly before groups and at events. We participated in the following during October:

• OCWD President Cathy Green provided a presentation to the Fountain Valley Rotary Club regarding Orange County water supplies.
• President Green and OCWD General Manager Mike Markus participated at the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) Region 10 Conference “Advanced Water Purification: The Road to Resilience.” President Green, who is vice chair of ACWA Region 10, was moderator of the Large Scale IPR/DPR Projects panel and Mike was one of its panel members.
• Mike Markus was a featured Water UCI panelist, joining other Orange County water managers to discuss “The Future of Water in Southern California.” It included the greatest challenges facing their agencies’ efforts over the next few years in helping to ensure the reliability, sustainability and quality of California’s water supplies, and the “disconnect” between California’s water problems, and what the public knows about these problems.
• On behalf of the National Water Reuse Institute (NWRI), OCWD Assistant General Manager Mike Wehner provided the welcome and introduction for its “Workshop on Drought Vulnerability and Tools for Improving Water Resilience” held in Long Beach recently. NWRI, the Department of Water Resources and the Southern California Water Committee cosponsored the event.
• OCWD Chief Hydrogeologist Roy Herndon gave a presentation on geophysical methods used to investigate seawater intrusion in the Sunset Gap as part of Stanford University’s Water in the West workshop series.
• OCWD Public Affairs Director Eleanor Torres presented about groundwater reliability to the Anaheim Neighborhood Council (West District) and Chief Hydrogeologist Roy Herndon presented about groundwater reliability to the Anaheim Neighborhood Council (East District).
• OCWD Director of Special Projects Bill Hunt provided a presentation about groundwater reliability to Anaheim Neighborhood Councils’ South and Central Districts and he provided a presentation on the OCWD water supply to Los Angeles Trade Technical College in Los Angeles.
• Principal Engineer Sandy Scott-Roberts provided a presentation about the Groundwater Replenishment System in San Diego at the American Filtration Society Fall Clean Air and Water Solutions Conference.
• Chief Hydrogeologist Roy Herndon gave a presentation on the history of water rights along the Santa Ana River to staff in the Metropolitan Water District’s resources department.
• OCWD Recharge Planning Manager Adam Hutchinson participated in a panel discussion on compliance with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act at a joint Groundwater Resources Association and Inland Geological Society meeting in Riverside.
• OCWD Legislative Liaison Alicia Dunkin participated in the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) state legislative committee annual planning meeting and Assemblymember Travis Allen’s open house at his district office in Huntington Beach.
• OCWD Senior Planner Marsha Westropp gave a presentation to the Newport Bay Watershed Executive Committee on the effort to improve the Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) program for Orange County. The presentation included an explanation of efforts to work with the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority on changes to the One Water One Watershed process while at the same time updating the Orange County IRWM Plan.
• The District hosted more than 60 attendees for the regular bi-monthly meeting of the Orange County Chapter of WateReuse California. Principal Engineer Sandy Scott-Roberts provided a presentation about the GWRS Final Expansion.
• The District hosted “Fostering Resilience: Leading on Sustainable Water Solutions”, a conference presented by the Mayors Innovation Project and WaterNow Alliance, in collaboration with American Rivers and the National League of Cities. OCWD Executive Director of Engineering and Water Resources John Kennedy provided the 85 attendees with a tour of the GWRS.